It is time for Zorba to start meditating, and it is time for the people who are meditators not to allow themselves to escape from the world... Only in completion is there bliss. Only in completion have you come home.
Osho

Saturday, 30 June 2012

Enthusiasm is the master key to feeling great. It keeps the self extremely positive beyond the pull of negativity while simultaneously making others feel uplifted too. To develop enthusiasm, have faith in the goodness of life, and in the original goodness of the self and others.

The way you see yourself has a powerful impact on what you make of yourself. And you are free to see yourself in any way you choose. What you sincerely think of yourself influences what you do with your life. The way you spend your time, and your actions, your commitments and priorities all flow from your image of yourself. It really doesn’t matter if the image is realistic or not. Because you have the power to shape your own reality so that it agrees with the image. What does matter is that your self-image be authentic. When you consistently see yourself as who you really, truly desire to be, that’s who you become. Your wishes alone will not make anything happen. And yet, when you persistently see yourself as you wish to be, you will guide your own actions to move your life in that very direction. Choose a positive, meaningful, compelling and authentic vision of the way you would like to be. And then find great joy and fulfillment in really, truly being that way.

Friday, 29 June 2012

Human beings often think about things that don’t concern them and about other people. When you think a lot you will use the word 'why'. To become silent means to emerge wisdom from within. To move into dead silence means to go beyond the consciousness of the physical body. This is a very wonderful experience for the soul, it empowers and refreshes the soul.

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Like how everyone has some difficulty, my difficulty is how to really convey to everyone that there is something so beautiful, something so inexpressible that can manifest in peoples’ lives and transform our planet into heaven. It is very difficult to convey this, isn’t it! So difficult to convey this truth, this knowledge when people are just in their head, they don’t understand. Don’t understand that there is something more than what they have just thought or understood in their little mind.

The way to know how is to know why. The best way for you to do something is the way you devise, based on your own particular purpose and your own particular set of resources. Certainly there are very specific methods and techniques that you can learn from others, and that will help you greatly. However, to achieve the result you envision, you must be the person to design and manage the process. Others can help you with the tactics. It’s your job to devise and carry out the strategy. How do you achieve your dream when there are so many obstacles in your path? By taking responsibility for answering that question, you take true ownership of the dream. Others can inspire you, encourage you, instruct you and advise you. However, it’s your dream, and it’s your immensely satisfying and fulfilling job to find a way of bringing it to life. Feel the authentic desire, know you can, and you will find your own very best way. Follow your heart, and you won’t have to follow anyone else’s instructions.

The only permanent thing in life is the impermanence and constant change in all levels, which, many times (if not all times), is beyond our sense of control. This is when it is quite clear that our egos are only here to serve a very specific task, which is beyond the structure that holds together the power of the unknown and the mystery of existence.
When we are faced with adversities, great pain and suffering, the loss of our loved ones, what do we do? It is inevitable that we are taken by our intrinsic fears and deep-rooted emotions and we spin in realms that we do not really want to be in and that in a way are only a creation of the mind. If the mind is able to see the big picture then it has a clear alignment with the driving force that leads us all to experience the purity that existence brings us on a daily basis.
When we are in the spin, what do we do? When faced with the unknown and the strong emotions, we have no choice but to be present. In the end there is no choice. Life brings you the right experiences you need to go through no matter what and it is always your choice to create your own reality. If your solar plexus is totally contracted and you cannot breathe, you can choose to breathe more and work harder than ever before to come out of that space. It requires practice to be able to let go of any such patterns, but practice does not come out of words or ideas, but from action. Creative action aligned with deep pain and suffering creates magic. If magic is the focus, i.e. the magic of the unknown, then the outcome is magical.
The outcome is always being more present to what is real, to what is true, and building new constellations which allow us to be more alive and more close to real and tangible love. How can you know true love without knowing true pain and suffering? As Rumi says: “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” The same space that feels pain can feel ecstasy and the same space that is present to the mind is also present to the divine. Where are you going to put your attention?
Love is always the answer, in the end, and in the beginning we just have to be alert and remember this ever-present love that connects us all and the more we focus on this love, the more it grows. If we are totally focused on this love, no matter what, then the outcome is sure to be extraordinarily intimate and one of unity.
Be courageous to be present to whatever is happening in your life, no matter what. Be courageous to step out of the box and say, “I am here, look at me, feel me, honour me and embrace me so totally that you melt in my being.” When we take the step forth and align ourselves with this creative action we manifest the pure intention of existence and we join our hearts with the divine intelligence.

“You have to take risks, he said. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun--and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist--that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists--a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.”

Love Song

How can I keep my soul in me, so thatit doesn't touch your soul? How can I raiseit high enough, past you, to other things?I would like to shelter it, among remotelost objects, in some dark and silent placethat doesn't resonate when your depths resound.Yet everything that touches us, me and you,takes us together like a violin's bow,which draws *one* voice out of two separate strings.Upon what instrument are we two spanned?And what musician holds us in his hand?Oh sweetest song.

Saturday, 23 June 2012

Q: Guruji, after all these years, I am still struggling, why? Love you Guruji!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You love me and then you are struggling. Struggling for what?You are struggling for money, then don’t sit and day dream, do hard work. If one business does not work, choose another business and do it.You can only struggle with two things, a job or relationship.If you are not getting married, you have been too choosy and so things are not working. And if you are already in a relationship and then you are struggling, then of course the knowledge point comes here, accept people as they are. So you try to accept them more and more, but your mind says no. Know that it is because of the knowledge that you are able to sustain and survive. Do you see what I am saying? Somehow you are making things work.So don’t think nothing works for you. I don’t think that is a fact.The third issue could be health. There is no fourth issue. And being in The Art of Living always helps you to somehow manage all the three.Don’t sit and day dream and only think about miracles to happen. Miracles do happen, but if you crave for miracles then they will take a back seat. Nature wants you to be dynamic.There are people who have asked me, ‘Guruji, please give me some numbers for my lottery ticket. I just want to win a lottery so that I don’t have to do anything. Just do sadhana all the time and some seva.’ No ways!First of all, decide what it is that you want from life.Struggling with what? With money?!You know money is something that you will always find people short of money. Always!You can see for example, the richest country, the only super power on this planet is USA and it is under heavy debt; trillions of dollars of debt. You take big companies; many of them are in debt. The richer a person gets, the more expenses he has to do. At the same time, there are poor people who are contributing towards charity, poor people who take time to do service, which is amazing. They feel so much abundance.
The other day in India, a gentleman comes to me. He has a small shop; a small little kiosk for himself, and he had inherited two plots of land. So he comes to me and offers me one plot of land. He says, ‘I want to give this plot to you’, he insisted. He came with his whole family, his wife, his mother and said, ‘I have two, I want to donate one and keep the other one.’The plot is in a very expensive location of the city and he could make a big fortune from it. But look at the heart in that guy.I said, ‘Okay, I will take it, but it will be in your name only. You should keep it for me and you build your shop here. Sell the other plot and with the money that you get, do business.’I could not say I won’t take this to him because he will feel hurt, so I said, ‘Yes this is mine, but it will be in your name and you should have it.’Look at the broad mind of that person.
Another day, a very poor lady comes, and she had just one gold chain that she inherited. I was going in the car and she comes running and gives me an envelope in my hand.Usually people give me envelopes with letters in it of some problems. So I took the envelope, and in it I found a gold chain. Then I told some people to go and find this lady and give the chain back to her saying, Guruji sent you blessings.
Do you know, during our silver jubilee, there is a beautiful story that happened! I came down from the steps on the last day and a small boy comes running to me with tears in his eyes and he gives me an envelope. I take the envelope and it had Rs. 5000 in it. I looked at that boy and I said, ‘What do you do?’He said he is a laborer.The money in the envelope that he had given me had two months of his earnings, and he said, ‘Please take this.’He said, ‘I can’t tell you how much my life has transformed. Please accept this.’I took just Rs.100 from that and returned back Rs. 4900. I told him, you know this Rs.100 is so precious for me, this is enough. I will take this.2 months of his salary; someone who is a laborer who does manual work, he comes and offers. Such a big heart is there in people.
What I am saying is you too should feel abundance. You don’t have to be very rich to feel the abundance. In fact many rich people don’t feel abundance at all, they feel lack. They are not generous. But poor people are very generous; they have that feeling, that art.Don’t imagine a situation where you will become super rich one day and then you will start doing some seva, no, nothing like that. You can feel abundance at any point of time. And the moment you start feeling abundance, you will see things will get better, got it!
Similarly, don’t be feverish about a relationship, just relax and you will find your relationship with people will improve and become better. If you are like a leech, clinging on to somebody in a relationship and bugging them, even though you say all nice words, that person will run away from you because they can’t handle it.One aspect is to give love, and another is to know how to handle love, receive love as well. It needs only a centered, enlightened person. Now don’t expect that type of behavior from everybody.You have to be very much at ease with yourself. If you are at ease with yourself, everyone will be at ease with you.

“If you are truly a seeker of Truth, Truth can not hide from you. It is in the Lap of truth that you have happened. Most people who claim to be seekers are only seeking security, solace, or the fulfillment of their desires.”

“People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That’s not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn’t understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you’re given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.”

It takes action to achieve, and it takes willingness to act. Be willing. Many outside factors will push against you, and yet you can get beyond them all. But only when you’re truly willing. What makes you act, is your choice to act. Be willing, and make that choice. You can do, you can create, you can experience, you can become whatever you choose. Be willing, and choose to live the life that fulfills your greatest possibilities. The challenges, problems and obstacles all pale in comparison to the strength of your will. Be willing, and exercise that strength to benefit yourself and all the world.
You can do it if you will do it. Be willing, and bring your highest vision to life.

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

With Total Trust Roam and Play in Samadhi

Empty and desireless, cold and thin, simple and genuine, this is how to strike down and fold up the remaining habits of many lives. When the stains from old habits are exhausted, the original light appears, blazing through your skull, not admitting any other matters. Vast and spacious, like sky and water merging during autumn, like snow and moon having the same color, this field is without boundary, beyond direction, magnificently one entity without edge or seam. Further, when you turn within and drop off everything completely, realization occurs. Right at the time of entirely dropping off, deliberation and discussion are one thousand or ten thousand miles away. Still no principle is discernible, so what could there be to point to or explain?

People with the bottom of the bucket fallen out immediately find total trust. So we are told simply to realize mutual response and explore mutual response, then turn around and enter the world. Roam and play in samadhi. Every detail appears before you. Sound and form, echo and shadow, happen instantly without leaving traces. The outside and myself do not dominate each other, only because no perceiving of objects comes between us. Only this non-perceiving encloses the empty space of the dharma realm’s majestic ten thousand forms. People with the original face should enact and fully investigate the field without neglecting a single fragment.

Simply Drop off Everything

Silently dwell in the self, in true suchness abandon conditioning. Open-minded and bright without defilement, simply penetrate and drop off everything. Today is not your first arrival here. Since the ancient home before the empty kalpa, clearly nothing has been obscured. Although you are inherently spirited and splendid, still you must go ahead and enact it. When doing so, immediately display every atom without hiding a speck of dirt. Dry and cool in deep repose, profoundly understand. If your rest is not satisfying and you yearn to go beyond birth and death, there can be no such place. Just burst through and you will discern without thought-dust, pure without reasons for anxiety. Stepping back with open hands, giving up everything, is thoroughly comprehending life and death. Immediately you can sparkle and respond to the world. Merge together with all things. Everywhere is just right. Accordingly we are told that from ancient to modern times all dharmas are not concealed, always apparent and exposed.

The Ancient Ferryboat in Bright Moonlight

A patch-robed monk’s authentic task is to practice the essence, in each minute event carefully discerning the shining source, radiant without discrimination, one color unstained. You must keep turning inwards, then the source is apprehended. This is called being able to continue the family business. Do not wear the changing fashions; transcend the duality of light and shadow. Accordingly the ancestors’ single trail is marvelously enacted. The residual debris of the world departs, its influence ended. This worldly knowledge does not compare to returning to the primary and obtaining confirmation. Observing beyond your skull, the core finally can be fulfilled and you can emerge from the transitory. The reeds blossom under the bright moon; the ancient ferryboat begins its passage; the jade thread fits into the golden needle. Then the opportunity arises to turn around, enter the world, and respond to conditions. All the dusts are entirely yours; all the dharmas are not someone else’s. Follow the current and paddle along, naturally unobstructed!

The Misunderstanding of Many Lifetimes

Emptiness is without characteristics. Illumination has no emotional afflictions. With piercing, quietly profound radiance, it mysteriously eliminates all disgrace. Thus one can know oneself; thus the self is completed. We all have the clear, wondrously bright field from the beginning. Many lifetimes of misunderstanding come only from distrust, hindrance, and screens of confusion that we create in a scenario of isolation. With boundless wisdom, journey beyond this, forgetting accomplishments. Straightforwardly abandon stratagems and take on responsibility. Having turned yourself around, accepting your situation, if you set foot on the path, spiritual energy will marvelously transport you. Contact phenomena with total sincerity, not a single atom of dust outside yourself.

Self and Other the Same

All dharmas are innately amazing beyond description. Perfect vision has no gap. In mountain groves, grasslands, and woods the truth has always been exhibited. Discern and comprehend the broad long tongue of Buddha’s teaching, which cannot be muted anywhere. The spoken is instantly heard; what is heard is instantly spoken. Senses and objects merge; principle and wisdom are united. When self and other are the same, mind and dharmas are one. When you face what you have excluded and see how it appears, you must quickly gather it together and integrate it. Make it work within your house, then establish stable sitting.

Ten Billion Illuminating Spirits

The way wanders in the empty middle of the circle, reaching the vacancy where appearances are forgotten. The pure ultimate self blazes, brilliant simply from inherent illumination. Facing the boundary of the object world without yet creating the sense gates, realize the subtlety of how to eliminate the effects of the swirling flow of arising and extinction! Rely only on the source of creation. If you feel a shadow of a hair’s gap, nothing will be received. Just experience and respond appropriately. From this singular impact many thousands of roads open, and all things are preeminent.

With this unification I radiantly speak of dharma. The self divides into ten billion distinct illuminating spirits. Distinguish these without falling into names and classifications and accord fully without effort. The mirror is clear and magnanimous. The valley is empty, but echoes. From the beginning unbound by seeing or hearing, the genuine self romps and plays in samadhi without obstruction. When enacted like this, how could it not be beneficial?

Sit Empty of Worldly Anxiety

If you truly appreciate a single thread your eye can suitably meet the world and its changes. Seeing clearly, do not be fooled, and the ten thousand situations cannot shroud you. Moonlight falls on the water; wind blows over the pines. Light and shadow do not confuse us; sounds or voices do not block us. The whistling wind can resonate, pervading without impediment through the various structures.

Flowing along with things, harmonizing without deviation, thoroughly abandoning webs of dust, still one does not yet arrive in the original home. Put to rest the remnants of your conditioning. Sit empty of worldly anxiety, silent and bright, clear and illuminating, blank and accepting, far-reaching and responsive. Without encountering external dusts, fulfilled in your own spirit, arrive at this field and immediately recognize your ancestors.

You don’t have to continue doing things the way you’ve always done them. Today is a new day, filled with new possibilities, so remember to treat it as such. You don’t have to be held prisoner by your old, familiar habits and assumptions. There’s a whole world of goodness and abundance beyond what you already know, so get out there and experience some of it. Does it seem like you’ve run out of energy and enthusiasm? Maybe you’re just tired of the same old things. Does it feel like you’re stuck? If you’re just living on autopilot, then you are indeed stuck. Take the helm of your life and steer it in some new, exciting, fulfilling and energizing directions. Discover again and again how adaptable and interesting and joyful you can be. The world is a never-ending source of beauty and wonder. Climb up out of your self-imposed rut and live the richness.

“Today we’re going through some very dramatic changes — politically, economically and as a society — and if we don’t see the big picture, if we just get caught up in the little things and forget the joy of seeing that there is much more to what is going on than those little things, the tendency is that we become trapped by that, and that is all we see and we lose hope and we lose that trust that is part of being alive as a human being.
In the end, every human being has to go through different experiences, that’s why we’re human and the experiences can feel very nice and other times they can feel painful but it is our perspective of those experiences that makes a big difference. If we limit our thinking to the more dualistic thinking — this is good, and I don’t want to ever miss out on having such a good experience, and this is bad — then we already have placed our experience in little boxes and then the tendency is that those boxes don’t actually allow us to move beyond those boxes and we end up getting caught up in the good and the bad which creates conflict and suffering in human beings. But, if we can raise our consciousness above such, we see that life is much more than good or bad or much more than the smallest boxes that the mind likes to place such things into and we understand that there’s a consequence to everything and that that consequence is not feeling good or feeling bad but rather transcending those limitations to a space where there is expansion and that expansion is part of joy. I feel that is what we’re struggling to realise in today’s world, to come to that sense of joy, not just as an individual but as a culture and it’s hard work. This is why it is a very intense time of change. I feel that it is not to suffer or to feel pain but rather to realise that love can be understood in everything and beauty is part of everything. Sometimes it takes a long time, a whole lifetime but why not start practicing from that perspective? Why not see the love and beauty that is in everything, even if emotionally or physically that is not the total experience? If we have that focus and understanding and trust, I feel that that becomes much more part of our reality — part of the new era where the oneness of all is made possible in a tangible, intuitive way”.

Monday, 18 June 2012

Who doesn’t have difficult times tell me? Who didn’t have difficult times in the past? Everybody gets some difficult time, the wise people smile and move through it, the foolish ones keep crying, yelling, shouting, being miserable and making others miserable.

Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place.

Every step you take on the journey gets you that much closer to your destination. Every purposeful effort you make brings you closer and closer to your goal. When you are taking intentional, directed action, you are making progress. You are creating the very rewards you seek. When you become weary, take a moment to remind yourself why you’ve chosen to go where you’ve chosen to go. When you feel a tinge of discouragement, overwhelm it with positive anticipation for the good and valuable place where you’re headed. Not only can you do it, you are doing it. You are performing the magic of transforming dreams into reality. What you’re doing is difficult and burdensome in some ways. And yet it is also truly amazing, because you’re creating value that never existed before. Continue the effort, continue to persist, and continue performing the magic. And delight in the outstanding rewards it brings.

Seeing the fundamental voidness of all things, one recognizes that which is subject to change and that which is immutable. The three realms are only a manifestation of the mind, and the ten thousand things arise from consciousness. What then is the use of grasping at a dream, an illusion, a flower in the air? Only the one person who is right now before your very eyes listening to this discourse is authentically real.

If you love the saintly but hate the worldly, you will never cease to be engulfed in the sea of birth and death. Afflictions and trials exist because you are mindful of them. But if you are not mindful of them, how can they disturb you? Spare yourself the vain labor of discrimination and grasping at appearances and in a single instant you will realize Tao with spontaneous ease.

Saturday, 16 June 2012

Bring fulfillment

Beyond where you are is the beautiful place where you want to be. Push, push, push yourself there. Beyond where you are comfortable is where you will be fulfilled. Step bravely away from what you know and toward your true desire. You are just like everyone else until you prove otherwise. Make the commitment to prove otherwise. Make this the day you stop running and hiding from what you know you must do. Make this the moment you choose to do the difficult work that will bring fulfillment to your life and your world. Find true delight in the challenges. Find real, sweet satisfaction in the discipline of your own achievements. Do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to act on your authentic vision. And make your life mean something that means something to you.

Friday, 15 June 2012

Live with excellence

Stop needing permission and stop needing approval. Start acting from your own highest convictions. Stop worrying so much about what other people might or might not think. Start living without compromise and with positive purpose. Stop waiting for everything to be perfect. Start making good and meaningful use of all you have. Let yourself be driven forward by your highest dreams. Feel the fears and learn from them, but don’t let yourself be held back by them. Let go of your need to control those around you. Experience the power and effectiveness that come from controlling and disciplining yourself. Live intentionally, on purpose, with the utmost sincerity and authenticity. Live this day and every day with the excellence you know you deserve.

You spend most of your life running after things, doing things. You forget that being comes before doing. Those who remember this secret make an effort to "be" and discover that when they stop and observe, life helps and brings whatever is needed. Learning to be is learning to be at peace. It is our most fundamental nature.

Though the mind often asks for what is visible or material, its needs are deeper and cannot be met by anything superficial or short term. Meditation leads to a meeting point with all that is true and eternal.

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

The past is already pastDon't try to regain it. The present does not stayDon't try to touch it fromMoment to moment. The future is not comeDon't think about it beforehandWhatsoever comes to eye leave it be. There are no commandments to be kept, There is no filth to be cleansed. With empty mind really penetrated, The dharmas have no life. When you can be like thisYou've completed the ultimate attainment.

Monday, 11 June 2012

One whose eyes are not yet opened is not amazed by the magnificence of this creation. Tell me, what in this creation is not a mystery? Birth is a mystery. Death is a mystery. Life itself is certainly a greater mystery.

Everything has a cost. And that is good, because it enables everything to have value. You get what you pay for. And that is good, because everyone wins when value can be traded equitably. If you’re not willing to pay the price, it is not possible for you to benefit from the value. What you get with no effort or payment on your part, is not worth having. It is your participation in the creation of value that makes it valuable and meaningful to you. It is a waste of your precious life to expect something for nothing. It is the earning, not the possession, that brings fulfillment. It is what you contribute that determines your true wealth. The authentic and immensely satisfying wealth of life is always available to you. All you have to do, is earn it.

Courage is to take a step forward into an area of difficulty without a solution in mind, but yet feeling that victory is ahead. It is going empty handed, but knowing that God's hand is stretched out to pull you.